It should be noted that reference to the prior art herein is not to be taken as an acknowledgement that such prior art constitutes common general knowledge in the art.
Drill presses are normally permanently and rigidly mounted on a bench so that the work piece to be drilled has to be taken to the bench. Accordingly they are of no use when the work piece is too large to fit on the bench or it is not convenient to transport it to the bench. For this reason there have been a number of attempts at devising a portable drill press which can be used on site.
US 20030143041 teaches a rack bar with a brace attached at one end and a pinion slide assembly engaged with the rack bar such that the pinion is in rotational engagement with the rack. A hand drill is mounted on a bracket attached to the pinion slide assembly and the brace is held or clamped to the work piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,065 teaches a similar device which is also held or clamped to the work piece being drilled while a rack and pinion assembly urge a drill mounted on the pinion towards the work piece. A collar separate from the drill mount is urged by operation of a lever against the upper end of the drill mount to move the drill toward the base.
However neither of these prior art devices operate in the manner of a drill press which is permanently mounted on a bench since they have to be held against the work piece by the operator or a separate clamp has to be used.
This does not allow for accuracy nor ease of drilling especially when the work piece has to be addressed from below as in the case of roof beams.
Clearly it would be advantageous if a portable drill press could be devised that helped to at least ameliorate some of the shortcomings described above. In particular it would be advantageous if a portable drill press could be devised which improves the ease and accuracy of drilling or at least provides a useful alternative to the prior art devices.